(TFT) Chiv & Sorc, complexity & realism

[Peter von Kleinsmid <pvk@oz.net>]

At 09:23 AM 8/31/06 +0100, edhogg@equus.demon.co.uk wrote:
> You buy the spells with experience (like TFT Talents I suppose) and your 
> casting ability is a skill based on your IQ.

Sounds more like GURPS skills than TFT Talents.


> You can get it here www.britgamedesigns.co.uk/download/cnsfast.pdf

Wonderful, thanks! I took a peek but will study more later. I'm curious 
though why a concerted defense seems to cause more fatigue than a concerted 
attack - my intuition would be the opposite.


> My point is that Complexity isn't always a good idea.

Right...

> You want a simple idea that works and gives you some depth.

Depends...

>  RPGs in the early 80s saw "realism" as being inexgtricably linked to 
> complex rules. Space opera has two pages of rules on passing items from 
> one person to another.

Great example. Though, complex rules can be fascinating, too, in various 
ways, and if the result is good, then it might be worth figuring out how to 
simplify a complex rule, or including in a computer game, converting to a 
table, etc.


> in TFT terms if it matters then roll for it as a DX roll of the lowest 
> DXed person and mod a wee bit if circumstances demand. If it isn't an 
> integral plot point, then it just happens.

Ya and this works fine at first, but after players become expert (by about 
1985 for me), this, and even some of the printed TFT rules, no longer seem 
adequate even in many common cases. For example, the "tripping on corpses" 
rule in TFT. The existence of the rule is great, because it makes for an 
interesting evolving battlefield if there are enough figures in a close 
enough space that it starts to matter. But 3 dice versus DX when entering a 
hex with an unmoving body speed, not to fall down? That's a nice simple 
solution the first few times it occurs, but upon experienced reflection, it 
can be pretty severe and doesn't generally seem realistic. I can't remember 
offhand if you roll for EACH body in the hex or not, but whether the rule 
is a simple "just roll once for any number of bodies" or "roll once for 
each body", neither is really a good satisfying rule if you're the type of 
person who questions rules and likes things to be accurate and meaningful. 
GURPS by the way also doesn't provide rules that satisfied us for this very 
common (in our games) situation. So we anyway came up with a table for 
effects of different body levels in each hex. It would've seemed a bit 
overkill when first learning the game, but not after tactical combats 
become second nature. The more I play, however, the more I tend to be able 
to handle more and more complexity without really slowing down. Though for 
me, much of the interest in and attraction of RPG's is in the details of 
combat. Which is also why I stuck almost exclusively to TFT and GURPS - 
non-tactical and unrealistic combat (as seen in practically every other 
RPG) is just a complete letdown for me.

PvK
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